Watch out for Logano
By Staff
Jason Cannon
Franklin County Times
We are in the process of seeing a new superstar emerge in the racing world.
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Toyota, is less than a month past his 18th birthday, the minimum age for competition on the NASCAR Nationwide Series. In that time period, Logano has competing in three Nationwide races, winning two poles and last week's race at Kentucky.
This kid from Connecticut is a once-in-a-lifetime talent. He has been competing in some form of racing since the age of 6, and the list of races and championships he has captured would stretch from here to there.
Amazingly, Joe Gibbs Racing has had Logano under contract for the last three years, since he was 15 years old. Actually, because of his age, his parents were under contract to JGR. But since reaching legal age last month, Logano agreed to a long-term deal with Gibbs.
Given his immediate success in the Nationwide Series, you won't see him competing strictly on Saturdays for very long. In fact, Joe Gibbs has indicated that Logano will compete in the Sprint Cup Series later this year in a fourth Joe Gibbs entry.
Given the situation with Tony Stewart, expect to see Logano in a full time Cup ride next season. With the addition of Logano, Gibbs would be positioned to dominate NASCAR for years to come with Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, who would be the old man of the group at the ripe old age of 27.
By the way, I don't think there is any doubt that Stewart leaves Gibbs next season, and you might be surprised at which team he joins. And he might not be coming alone, but that's another column for another time.
The movement of sponsors and drivers typically begins as the summer heats up. We saw some of that movement this week as Caterpillar announced a move to become the primary sponsor of the Jeff Burton's No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Because of NASCAR's sponsorship deal with Sprint, AT&T, Burton's current sponsor, must leave the sport after this season. Caterpillar had been the primary sponsor of the No 22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota driven by Dave Blaney.
Childress can't be very popular with his fellow team owners. In the past couple of months he has snaked two current sponsors from other teams. First, General Mills leaves Petty to sponsor RCR's new fourth team next season, and now Caterpillar leaves Bill Davis. If only Jeff Burton could say Caterpillar the way his brother, Ward, did back in the day …
This Sunday the Series moves to wine country in Sonoma, California for the first of only two road course races of the season. Only five active drivers have won at this track with Jeff Gordon leading the way with five career wins. In fact, Tony Stewart is the only other driver with multiple wins here, winning in 2001 and 2005.
Gordon is winless this season and sits ninth in the points standings. Another Hendrick driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., broke a winless streak last week at Michigan. This week, Gordon will break his winless streak, albeit much shorter than Junior's, with a victory at Sonoma.
Jason Cannon is the publisher of The Franklin County Times. He can be reached at jason.cannon@fct.wpengine.com or (256) 332-1881, ext. 11.
